The Cake: A Recipe for Love

The Cake: A Recipe for Love

Aug 31, 2017

"My Thought for Your Day" by Paul Minzlaff

Pictures are moments captured in time. Pictures have never been used more in the world than today when almost every person from age 3 to 90 owns a cell phone. Today’s message is about a single photo I recently had shared with me and the message that accompanied the photo. A message of hope, gratitude and love – now that’s a story I want to tell!

I bet you are expecting a description of some action shot or some “once in a life-time moment” caught on camera, but the picture shown to me this morning couldn’t have been further from these examples. The picture was of a small 10-year-old child with 5 smiling friends, having a group hug. In the center of the photo was a birthday cake, but not just any cake – an ice cream cake. And it is with the cake that the story begins.

The small boy in the photo was Ricky. The past year had not been kind to Ricky and his mom; in fact, life for many years had not been kind to Ricky’s mom. And although Mary Ann hoped and prayed that she could hold a simple birthday party, none was planned. Birthday parties, even simple ones, required money and that was something Mary Ann had little of in those days. How this cake arrived in Mary Ann’s home is where the real ingredients of hope and faith combined with love became the recipe for this very special memory.

Two weeks before Ricky’s birthday, Mary Ann had become ill. Her illness led her to the hospital and a caregiver. Not everyone is called to be a giver of care, but many years ago, God touched the heart of a woman named Jill. And when a door is opened, Jill often walks into the lives of people she meets.

Jill believes that God brings people in and out of your life at just the right time so that you can be His hands and feet, and the eyes and ears of the Lord to see human need. Jill would often tell me, “God doesn’t say oops, His design is perfect. Not always what we expect, but people are brought into our life for a purpose.”

Before Jill left for the day, she asked Mary Ann what Ricky wanted for his birthday. Mary Ann quickly responded, “Oh, he doesn’t want any gifts, he just wants a cake. But not just any cake, an ice cream cake.”

I am sure by now you may have guessed that this story has a happy ending. I wouldn’t be telling it if it didn’t. Not only did Jill have an ice cream cake delivered for Ricky’s birthday, but in seeing the photo of Ricky smiling with his friends around the cake, she knew it was so much more than that. Making this cake was a simple act of love.

We each have an opportunity to be a Jill. Jill saw need and she acted out of love to make a difference. She told no one of her small deed of kindness. God knew the love in her heart and the opportunity to connect Jill and Mary Ann in a powerful and meaningful way.

Your life starts with a blank canvas given to you at your baptism by God. Each day of your life, each act of love is a brush stroke, filling the canvas, while creating your individual masterpiece. What will the picture of your life display?

Thoughts to Encourage

Our
faith isn’t based on what we see; our faith is based on who God is.